ReCode Therapeutics announced today that it closed a Series B extension financing round, adding $120 million in new funds.
Menlo Park, California-based ReCode, which develops the selective organ targeting (SORT) lipid nanoparticle technology (LNP) delivery platform, has now raised $200 million total in the Series B.
New investors Leaps by Bayer (the impact investment unit of Bayer AG) and Ayur Maya (an affiliate of Matrix Capital Management) co-led the round, which also received participation from Amgen Ventures. Matrix Managing Director Dr. Alan Colowick and Leaps by Bayer Senior Director of Venture Investments Health Rakhshita Dhar will join ReCode’s board of directors in connection with the financing.
Pfizer Ventures and EcoR1 Capital led the initial Series B in October 2021, with participation from Sanofi Ventures, Orbimed, Vida Ventures, MPM Capital, Colt Ventures, Hunt Technology Ventures L.P., Osage University Partners, Tekla Capital Management LLC, Superstring Capital, and NS Investment.
ReCode aims to use the proceeds to fund the diversification of its pipeline into central nervous system, liver and oncology indications while advancing its lead mRNA programs for primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and cystic fibrosis (CF) into the clinic.
Additionally, funds will be used to advance the development of its platform to deliver a wider range of genetic medicine cargoes, including additional gene correction modalities and small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapies, to a wider range of target cell types in a predictable and programmable fashion.
LNPs package and deliver genetic cargo such as mRNA, going into the blood to be taken up by the liver, limiting utility for broad therapeutics. ReCode said its SORT LNPs are engineered with a biochemically distinct fifth lipid to help the body “sort” and direct the LNPs to other targeted organs like the lung and spleen while being able to bypass the liver if desired.
ReCode said its platform has versatility in its modes of administration, including IV, inhaled, subcutaneous, intramuscular nad intrathecal, as well as in the diversity of genetic cargo to be delivered.
“This potentially game-changing precision medicine technology creates vast possibilities for genetic medicines which have been limited by current technologies,” ReCode Therapeutics CEO and board member Dr. Shehnaaz Suliman said in the release. “With the infusion of new capital and the addition of AyurMaya, an affiliate of Matrix Capital Management, and Leaps by Bayer to our high-caliber board, we are confident that our team will successfully drive ReCode’s mission to develop new precision genetic medicines enabled by superior delivery.”
